Publication

India’s 7,500 km long, densely populated coastline is vulnerable to coastal floods, erosion and cyclones. In the South-Eastern coastal states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu extreme heat during summer times as well as heavy rains and flooding during the monsoon season further challenge local communities. A changing and more variable global climate aggravate these challenges even more. Particularly, small rural communities are already experiencing negative impacts on local environmental and socio-economic conditions.

The AdaptCap project, implemented by GIZ in association with four local and international partners, has set out to strengthen the adaptation capacities of vulnerable coastal communities in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and minimize their climate change-related risks. This practice-oriented booklet illustrates how the project’s four main components – vulnerability and needs assessments, pilot projects, capacity building and public awareness and visibility – were implemented in six cities with three cluster villages each. It gives an insight into the project development and implementation, the financial aspects as well as the participatory methods and tools employed. Local partnerships made it possible to find and install technical adaptation measures in a short time span and co-create long-term Local Adaptation and Mitigation Guides (LAMGs). The integrated, multi-level and multi-stakeholder approach provides a strong base for sustainability. The project focused on and gave a voice to the people in the communities as they are the best decision-makers knowing what they need to climate-proof their future. Other communities and municipal institutions have already decided to replicate some of the ideas and practical measures applied in the pilot projects – without financial support by AdaptCap.